Women's pay regresses further

Posted by Jenni Colwill on 18 June 2009 | 0 Comments

Tags: pay equity, women, australia, women's pay

The slippery slope of women's pay has taken another turn for the worse. Not only do we earn less, but the way we are paid also determines how much less we will earn.

Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the gap between wages for men and women is significantly affected by the way their pay is set.

The difference is greatest for women whose pay is set by individual agreements: $425.60 difference in average weekly total cash earnings in August 2008. The difference for males and females on collective agreements was a bit better: $352.30. The narrowest margin was between males and females paid under awards: $90.10 difference.

If earning only $90 less than your male counterparts is a good news story, then this is good news for low paid women. Many of them are on collective agreements. The biggest differences exist in the areas where women are best paid, nearly all of these women are on individual agreements..

Just to make sure we all understand just how bad things are, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workforce Agency has also just released a report showing that the 'pay gap for women key management personnel is on average 28.3%, 11% higher than the national average gender pay gap in February.'

Talk about backsliding.